DFID: Accelerating the Sustainable Control and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ASCEND)

Applications are now open for the Accelerating the Sustainable Control and Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ASCEND) which will be a centrally managed programme (CMP) for DFID’s Human Development Department (HDD) to provide up to £200 million over the period April 2019 to March 2022.

This will support the control and elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in approximately 20 high burden countries. The focus will be on Five NTDs: lymphatic filariasis; onchocerciasis; schistosomiasis; visceral leishmaniasis and trachoma. NTDs are a group diseases that thrive in poor, often conflict-affected settings, affecting 1.6 billion of the world’s poorest people, and causing disability, disfigurement, stigma and an estimated 170,000 deaths annually. They result in those affected being unable to work, pushing families further into poverty, and in children missing school. The current NTD portfolio includes several separate programmes, focusing on specific NTDs or geographies.

The overall programme is being tendered as two individual Geographical Lots – East Africa & Asia (50%) & West & Central Africa (50%), There is an option to extend for a further 18 months and up to 50% of the value of the contract.